Seeing Red
by Yaoimelody
Summary: [Karkat/John. Reviews/Feedback/Requests are begged for and much appreciated.] There has to be a beginning to every loving relationship, and Karkat and John even getting to a point like that in the first place...? But back when some boys were picking mercilessly on John, the troll finally can't contain his feelings any longer after he witnesses it himself and helps John.


The raven-haired troll grumbled as he stalked down the sidewalk. The cracks in the cement made it certain this certain area was really not given enough attention. Right now he was on his way to give a visit to his self-proclaimed nemesis. It wasn't like he could just stop the madness and just be nice, because once he started up a grudge with someone... it stuck around. Except for lately. He really would have liked to just be friendly, and then some.

Trying to will those current thoughts away, he found himself nearby John. Ready to just call out a sneer, he heard other boys do it for him. The humans surrounded the weakest-appearing. Shrinking back to assess this better behind a wooden fence corner, Karkat gripped the solid. It received scratch marks of inner rage as he noticed they were physically pushing around the nerd. Mouthing curses he wanted to scream out as a sort of protection, he found no such luck.

Eventually they threw and held John down and the foreign teenager was over his sudden fear and rushed over. His different appearance must have scared off the bullies. They mostly left, but the biggest brute allowed his fist attack at the younger's sides a few more times. Cackling, he got up and followed his friends in glee.

It made Karkat sick to his stomach to think anyone could do that without a good reason. What did John even do to them, first of all? He doubted much if anything, seeing as the boy was more bark than bite. At least they were near the Egbert home, or he would have really messed his crush up by having to drag him. With not much area to move, he took a deep breath and attempt to move the passed out male by carrying over his shoulder. Instincts came out and he succeeded.

The couch was spotted and he let out a breath of relief. Karkat lay the mostly unconscious teenager onto the couch on his back. He sat down near the ruffled hair, then scooted them so the cranium could be comfortable in his lap. Maybe it was all his fault for being late for their usually yelling match over nothing. They got angry at each other over Pesterlog, then took it to face-to-face, only wounding with words.

Leaning back in the the comfortable piece of furniture, he watched the ceiling, the walls, the other assortment of usual human home decor. Maybe some things were at his own hive whenever he was there, but it was different since it wasn't his place. Nothing was right at the moment. About to run his fingers through the gorgeous locks, the eyes began to creak open behind the thick frames. He placed both hands on either side of the couch from sudden shock.

John gave a groan and weakly adjusted his glasses from nerves. Where was he? It took a moment to see his familiarly printed ceiling, then eventually he rested his sight on someone he really wasn't expecting, "K-...Karkat?"

Said boy bit his lower lip lightly so he wouldn't break open the sensitive skin. It was still weird, but neither wanted to move or even breathe. This was both comforting as well as a giant dose of awkward. The troll allowed himself to speak at last, though, "Please tell me you're okay."

"Why do you even care?" Spat back the younger weakly, trying to sit up after reality hit him in the face like a frying pan. He moved so he was facing the other on the opposite side of the couch. Sudden pain pain and he curled up in a ball, but that made it so much more unbearable.

"Let me see your side," Karkat's voice made a weird crack, but he was honestly not in the mood for acting like a child right at the moment. He needed to see what had happened to the skin. It took struggling, but the pullover hoodie and the shirt was brought up enough to see the damage. The light tan and the forming bruises were melding grossly, but that fact was ignored. All that mattered right now was that the other was okay. Looking up with devotion, "What do you use for these sort of marks?"

Watching the light gray troll dedicated to helping him was so uncharacteristic. Then again, it made sense, maybe he would get the ice pack and spread some sort of crazy poison that could seep into the human's skin. The idea not leaving John's brain, "No way, I'm fine."

Sighing out and figuring he wasn't trusted, he placed a hand on the bare skin. It was a cooler in temperature because of the air in the room. It took strength not to kiss the ruined area. Strength he didn't possess at the moment. Scooting down to place delicate pecks on the skin, he looked up at the other's expression. Why there was surprise was beyond him. Whenever someone got hurt among trolls, they usually had a close relationship place kisses on the pained wound to make the victim feel better. Mostly in private because it was a secret affair not to be messed with. Sometimes if the place was too severely hurt, they gave sorrowed and smothering kisses on the lips... but that was not in this culture.

Moving back up to his crush's eye level, he almost demanded, but the wince stopped him. Instead, he reached out to stroke across the perfect cheek, and murmured, "You're hurt, I must help you, John."

The nails weren't scraping across his skin, so John gave in enough to not stop his voice from coming through, "There's a bag of ice in the freezer. Wrap it in a towel, though..."

Nodding at the answer, Karkat quickly stalked off into the kitchen and watched for the refrigerator. He opened the top door and was meet with a chilly sensation. Blinking rapidly and sticking in his head enough to see in the darkness, he found a nearly translucent baggie that had to be it out of everything else. Pulling it out, he slammed the door closed. The troll was unsure which drawer held the cloth material, but found the right one on the first try.

Wrapping it together sloppily he made his way back to the couch and found John where he was left. The human looked up with relief and presented his side enough so it wouldn't hurt. At the least the boy was now resting on the unhurt side now. Handing it over, he found the other stuck it so it sat on the bruises. That blew Karkat's mind personally, figuring the boy was really thirsty and wanted frozen water. Humans were pretty weird... He sat down so he could protectively be seated in front of John, "Are you okay now?"

"I guess," John practically hummed and smiled in a thankful way. This was a whole new ground he hoped he didn't mess up.

"John," began Karkat, "I can't take it anymore. I'm red for you." That was obvious at this point, but he didn't even mind if he was being mushy or not. Instead of wanting to punch that face, he began to imagine peppering it in kisses and watching it light up.

Much like it did now, only a little weaker, "I guess you could say I'm red for you too." Their faces varied in the fact that John had a more pinkish hue of a blush, to Karkat's pure red.

Scooting his body and flipping to face the shorter, he pecked the nose near his lips, "I'll never let anyone touch you in that way again." With a rush of happiness, he brought their lips against each other.

It was about brought up that their stance for each other had a dramatic change and where could it possibly be now, but they didn't need to. When the younger awoke from his eventual drifting into a nap, he would awake to Karkat. Right where he placed himself when John fell into the peaceful snooze. There was nowhere else he would fit in besides wherever his crush was. It took too long to figure out how much he needed the nerdy teenager, rather than wanting to be far away, so he wouldn't waste another second afar if was the last thing he did.


End file.
